Granular vermiculite deodorants



Application December 6, 1954, SerialNo. 473,455:

1 Claim. (Cl. 167 94) No Drawing.

My invention relates to deodorants and has particular relation to. vaporizable space deodorants which, when dissipatedinto the. air, neutralize an offensive odor by maskins ove ng. i a mor Ple si n Deodorants of the type with which. my invention concernsitself have a widerange of uses extending from the deodorizing of unpleasant odors in a., kitchen or bath room to the maskingor overcoming of very strong ob-v jectionable odors suchascccur insick rooms, in animal cages, or inthevicinity of dead rats. Inaccordance with the teachings of the prior art, the deodorizing effect is produced by,dissipating into the air a volatile perfume or deqdorizer which is usually supplied insolid or liquid form, but may also be a vapor. I shall call this solid, liquid or vapor the odorant. A number of odorants are described in Modern Chemical SpecialtiesLesser-- 195 -MacNair-Dorland C0., New York, pages 491 through 503. The, dissipation of the odorant may be elfected in several ways. The deodorant maybe evaporated fr'om a shallow, open receptacle, or it may be evaporatedsfrom awick, or it may be sprayed in er -scattered oventhe region-wherethedeodorizingeffect-isto be produced.

The pr-iorart facilities fen dissipatingodorants have proved unsatisfactory. The-practice-of' evaporating from a" receptacle is inherently costly. It is animportant property of theodorantthat only smallquantities, in many situations only-afew'drops, are-required to produce effective deodorization, But small quantitifis of the liquid cannot conveniently be measured out in a receptacle which would be suitable forevaporation and the quantity placed in the receptacleis usually at least severaltimes as much as may be necessary. SinQfithe cost oi the odorant is high, this wasteful use of the liquid leads to a high cost for deodorizing a region.

In. addition, theodorant in the receptacle is concentratedin a small, area, The deodorizing elfe'ctis then strong in the immediate vicinity of thereceptacle and falls 01f. precipitously as the distance fromthelreceptacle increases. The masking odor is then rather faint at. a relatively short distance from-the receptacle. This difficulty may be overcome by providing a large quantity of. the material in the evaporator. but in, this case the odor inthe region of the evaporator is excessively strong and unpleasant, Another expedient is to provide a fan to dissipate the odorant but thishas thedisadvantage of complexity.

The wick method has the disadvantage of thereceptacle method that the deodorizing liquid is concentrated so that its effect decreases to a great extent with the distance from the wick and'either a fan is. required or, a, number ofwicksrnust be used. Further, the,odoran ts ,.ar.e usually ol t q s or ls n sev al u ds (se Mqdsr Chemical Specialties-Lesser) which are fractionally vaporized through the wick. The less ;volatile .components arms dor n rehen.r n d nhs sls s t a speak becomes clogged and'relatively uneifectiye.

nited States Patent ice damage the surface on which it 'is' sprayed-or deposited.-

I have -found thatfth deposit. of drops of most deodoriz ing-liquids-on a painted surfaceor oneof asphalt tile mars the surface.

Of the above described practices the receptacle method and the spraying or dropping method have the additional disadvantage that they-permit the liquid to evaporate quickly. The effect of'the vapor given up by the deodorizing liquidat anyinstantis only momentary because the vapor is quickly diifusedeven in a relatively closed region. When the liquidbvaporates quickly, it is thusquickly used up and-insituations where the de odO-rizing efiect must be produced for long time intervals the-liquid must be continuously replenished at a high cost. In addition the rapid evaporation results in high concentration, particularly near the odorant source and this is disagreeable.

It is, accordingly, broadly an object of my invention to provide a deodorant which can be economically ap-. plied to produce, an eifective deodorizing. effect.

ltis another objectof. myv invention to provide a de,.

odorant which shall be capable of producing an effective substantially uniformniasking or deodorizing effect over a region of reasonable volume.

A further object of my inventionis to provide a deodorant with which it shall be possible to maintain a suitable concentration of deodorizing vapor for a substantial. time interval which may be as long as twentyfour hours.

A still further object of my invention is to provide a deodorant with which it shall be posible to maintain a uniform concentration of vapor over the region to be deodorized for a substantial length of time Without damaging the floor or the walls of the region.

An.incidental object of my. invention is to provide facilities for effectively and economically deodorizing a region which is of relatively small volume and which requires only a few drops of deodorant.

In accordance with my invention I provideadeodorant consisting of a particled material of the type that is capable of absorbing large. quantities by weight of a deodorizing liquid or, vapor; that is, of an odorant, while remaining "dry, that is, without becoming soggy, impregnated with a substantial quantity of the order of 25% of its weight of an odorant. The particled material must be such that when theirnpregnated particles are. exposed to the atmosphere. in a room, for example, a toilet, a perfume corresponding to the odorant is emitted. It is essential that; the particled material shall not react with the-odorant either chemically. or physically selectively so as to. changev the character of the perfume. I will call aparticled solidwhich does notchemically or physically reactsoas to changethe-perfurne of the odorant a nonreactive solid.

I have .fou-ndthat suitableparticled materials are such solids as. attapulgite, vermiculite, sawdust and fullers earth. Such materials can, without becoming soggy, absorb substantial quantities by weight of an odorant. A typical such odorant is neutroleum alpha which is sold by Fritzsche Brothers of Port Authority Bldg, 76 Ninth Ave., New York 11, N. Y. Further, I have found'that when a proper quantity oi the impregnated material, such as impregnated vermiculite, for example, isspread on-the floor orona suitable'part of'the floor of a room, vaporor perfume,- corresponding to the impregnated odorant unchanged in any way, is emitted from thefmaterial at a sufficient rate to produce an eifective ds ins disease till 1 1 t 9 1. 3 h gh r e that the ask n dor bsqqm s nsh red. nv addi o the area /r4 rate of evaporation is such that the material remains effective for a long time interval of the order of twenty-four hours. I have also found that the rate of emission of the vapor and the magnitude of the deodorizing effect can be controlled by selecting the size of the granule of the impregnated particled solid, an impregnated material of larger granules being appreciably more retentive than an impregnated powdery material. I have found that the impregnated material can, but need not, be spread over the whole floor of the room. It can be spread over an area which is a relatively small proportion of the total area of the room but the area must be sufficiently large to avoid the concentration of odor which arises in the prior art use of receptacles described above.

Preferably the impregnated material should be deposited in several regions of the room which are so distributed that the deodorizing elfect is substantially uniform throughout the room. The exact pattern of distribution will in each case depend on the geometry of the room.

In the practice of my invention I have produced deodorants consisting of the particled solids listed in Table I impregnated with the odorants listed in Table II.

Table 1 Solid Supplier vermiculite Zonolite Company Dept. R, 135 S. La Salle St., Chicago 3, Illinois. Sawdust Attapulgus Division, Minerals & Chemicals Corp. of America, 210 West Washington Square, Philadelphia 5, Pa.

Attapulgus Division, Minerals dz Chemicals Corporation of Granular Attapnlgus (clay) prepared from mineral at tapulgite.

fuller's earth (Attapulgus clay) B/ mesh AA grade RVM granular.

America. Iullers earth (Attapulgus clay) 4/12 Do.

mesh AA grade RVM granular attapulgus.

Carbide and Carbon Chemical 00., E. Forty-second St., New York 17, N. Y

Columbia activated carbon 6/14 mesh grade AC.

fullers earth Floridin 00., P. O. Box 998,

Tallahassee, Florida.

Table II Odorant Supplier Neutroleurn Alpha Fritzsche Brothers. Anisrnal Products Deodorizer No. Do.

Deodorant No. 10753 Deodorant No. 15075... Deodall N o. l odorant Citro Rodorant Do. Sindar Corp. of 330 W. Forty- Second St., N. Y. Dodge & Olcott of 180 Varich St., New York, N. Y. Florida Molasses (30., Lake Alfred, Florida.

The various types of vermiculite available and its chemical and physical properties are described in a Zonolite leaflet G-8l copyright 1953, entitled Zonolite vermiculite. Animal products deodorizer No. 23576 is a modification of neutroleum alpha, the modification consisting of the removal of a possibly toxic material.

The odorants listed in Table II are described by their manufacturers as having compositions as follows:

4 Deodorant No. 15,075: Percent Essential oils 40-R4787 called citrona 40114787:

Blend of essential oils and aromatic chemicals Citro Rodorant:

A heavy citrus oil fraction recovered by steam distillation of stripper oil Deodall #1:

A mixture of synthetic and natural aromatic and essential oils.

I produced a number ofunits of the deodorant combination according to my invention by impregnating a small quantity of each solid in Table I with about onethird of its weight of neutroleum alpha and by impregnating vermiculite with about one-third to an equal weight of each of the odorants in Table II. In each case the odorant. was simply poured into a mass of the solid and the mass tumbled for an interval of a half-hour. All deodorant combinations were dry. Each deodorant was spread on a selected out-of-the-way area, about one square foot of the floor of a rest room of the usual dimensions and the deodorizing effect was observed over a period of 24 hours. I found that each of the deodorant combinations from the start produced a deodorizing effect by emitting unchanged the perfume of the odorant. In each case the perfume or odor was still emitted to some extent after 24 hours but the odor for all but impregnated Vermiculite of size No. 2 was weak. The spreading of the impregnated solid over one square foot of the small rest room resulted in adequate distribution of the perfume so that the deodorizing was effective and a disagreeable concentrated effect was not produced.

Vermiculite No. 2 is an expanded or exfoliated vermiculite having a density of 8.5 to 9.0 pounds per cubic foot and having the following particle size distribution It is seen that substantially 98% of the particles are between 4 and 30 U. S. screen mesh.

It is to be noted that while all deodorants listed are suitable for many purposes and fall within the broader aspects of my invention, the impregnated vermiculite has peculiar advantages which render it preferable where the deodorant effect is to persist for a long time.

When a space or room is to be deodorized with the deodorant according to my invention, the proper quantity of impregnated particled solid is deposited over small areas of out-of-the-way portions of the space, the areas corresponding to the volume of the space to be deodorized; the impregnated solid may also be deposited on a suitable platform in the space. The solid preferably should have a composition and a granular or particled size such that the vaporization takes place for the desired interval of time. Since the solid is dry, the depositing of the solid does not damage paint or wood or the material of the floor or walls of the space. The deodorant is vaporized from the solid and produces its effect uniformly throughout the space and relatively uniformly over a long time interval. Fans or other means of distributing the masking vapor are not required. Thus the proper vapor concentration is maintained without, any costly mechanical equipment or wicks or other components.

Advantages are also involved in the marketing of materials in accordance with my invention. Suflicient impregnated particled material for deodorizing a room of average dimensions or average volume may be enclosed in sealed, readily openable containers, such as a heat sealed cellophane bag and sold for the dimensions or volume of room involved. The buyer of such a bag of material need only break the seal and distribute the material.

Thus assume that a sutficient deodorant to deodorize a small rest room for several hours is desired. Such a deodorizing effect may be produced by five or ten drops of an odorant but five or ten drops of an odorant can not be readily sold. Accordingly, the deodorant is, in accordance with the teachings of the prior art, sold in large quantities and the user is subjected to the cost of distributing the odorant properly.

In accordance with my invention, a sufiicient quantity of the impregnated particled solid to produce the effect of five or ten drops of the odorant is deposited in a heat sealed cellophane bag. This may be from about a teaspoon to a tablespoon of the impregnated solid. In use the seal may be broken and the impregnated particled solid in the bag distributed in the room to be deodorized.

Small quantities, convenient for the use, of the impregnated particled solid may also be distributed in readily openable heat-sealed containers for use as samples by prospective users of large quantities. Thus in a low cost manner the advantages of the material may be demonstrated.

While I have described certain specific embodiments of my invention, many modifications thereof are practicable. My invention, therefore, is not to be restricted except insofar as is necessitated by the spirit of the prior art.

I claim as my invention:

A dry granular odoriferous composition comprising an absorptive material of granular particles of exfoliated vermiculite, substantially 98% of said particles being between No. 4 U. S. screen mesh and No. 30 U. S. screen mesh and at least by weight of the absorptive material of the liquid odorant Neutroleum Alpha absorbed in said material, the said composition remaining dry and having the characteristic of freely evolving the odorant vapors at a slow rate so that spaces may be deodorized for long periods of time by disposing a small quantity of the composition therein.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,847,233 Bilde Mar. 1, 1932 

